[Here is the rest of the chapter that was stubbed due to the character limit!]

Martin’s arrival startles us all. He teleports in a few feet away, stumbling and coughing, the caravan elves hanging onto him with trembling hands. He takes in the scene of us squabbling, and when his eyes land on me, his face is filled with palpable relief.

Which quickly gives way to anger.

“Where were you? I searched everywhere,” he snaps. There’s a thin layer of ash running up his hands and painting his face in dark streaks. His clothes are burnt like mine, but not as badly.

“Miri saved me,” I manage to say, pointing at her, still being held up by Peter like a cat grabbed by its scruff. “She’s a witch.”

Martin’s brows lower in confusion, his eyes shooting from Miri to me. Then he approaches me, leaving the elves behind, and cups my face. For a confusing split second, I think he’s about to kiss me, and I stiffen, but he just inspects my face. “Then she’ll be able to help with this.”

I don’t have time to worry about my face. “The fire . . .” I glance over at Peter. “Let her down. Seriously. We have more important things to worry about.”

His eyes travel to the burning castle. Most of the wood on the outside is gone now, the flags burned down to dust, but the stony skeleton remains. Through the windows, I can see the fire still raging inside. Coughing guards, their clothing blackened and torn, go in and out with buckets that are far too small to save much of anything here. “Fine,” Peter finally relents, dropping Miri, who hits the ground with a thump. He squares his shoulders and starts heading back into the building.

“Wait—” I gasp.

He glances back at me and gives me a cold look. “Stay here.”

Obviously! “Don’t be a hero,” I call out, but I make no move to stop him. I realize that I don’t want him to burn, and I don't want to control him either.

“I never am,” he mutters, then disappears back inside.

I grab Martin's arm, turning to him. His mouth drops open in surprise. “Don’t go back in,” I say, my quiet tone barely carrying over the sound of the roaring flames. “I can’t lose you.” I keep a firm grip on him. I’m not sure how teleporting works, but I’m hoping he can’t do it without taking me too as long as I’m holding onto him.

He just nods, but there’s a softness in his eyes that I don’t often see. Then I’m distracted by the feeling of a cold salve being applied to my skin and Miri’s tiny hands in my face. Martin and I both jump at the intrusion.

“My apologies,” Miri murmurs. “These things should be applied immediately.” Martin takes a step back, though I keep a tight hold on his wrist as she works. She rubs the grease into my cheek, lip, and neck with surprising aggressiveness—though it somehow doesn’t hurt. I guess you really gotta rub this shit in or something because she’s halfway to giving me a facial massage with it. She looks totally frazzled too—ashy, a bit of her hair burnt. “It’s a general salve for most injuries. I’m hoping it will work well for burns, though I cannot be sure.” She dips her fingers back into the little jar she’s procured and applies a second coat.

“You just keep that on you?” I manage to say as she seemingly rearranges my face with her fingers.

“I’m very clumsy” is all she says back.

“You were in there for nearly half an hour,” Martin murmurs. “But your wounds seem to only be external. How?”

My eyes flick over to him as I try to stay still for Miri. “We’ll talk about this later.” But then I remember that Miri already knows a ton about the situation, and I decide to speak frankly. If she was one of the two women, none of this will be news to her anyway. “Actually . . . I’ll tell you now.”

I recount the conversation I’d overheard in my half-dead state, trying as best I can to remember what was said and how the voices had sounded. It’s all so jumbled in my head now, that I’m not sure I’m recounting it with any accuracy. Miri and Martin listen with rapt attention and don’t interrupt. Miri even pauses in her application of the salve. When I’m done, Martin just shakes his head. “Hard to know what to make of that.”

“Helpful,” I say dryly.

He glares at me. “There’s no time for this. We need to douse the fire, find the remaining people trapped inside, rebuild, ask our allies for assistance . . .”

“You’re not going back in there,” I gasp, gripping his arm as tightly as I can. He gives me a bewildered look. You can’t die in there. You can’t die on me. I need you alive. He seems to know what I’m thinking, or guesses it, because he stops fighting and pulls me into a hug. I blink, the feeling of being wrapped in his arms both comforting and dizzying.

“I’ll stay,” he promises. “All right?”

“Thank you,” I whisper back. When I pull back from the hug, Miri is scratching her head awkwardly, looking away from us. Jeez, Miri, it’s not like that.

My brain’s so muddled from all that’s gone on, I almost forget what I tried to do. That I tried to end this story early. But it’s hard to feel guilty when all I can think about is why it didn’t work. Why The Final Tale didn’t seem to have changed the way The Tales of Alvione had. Why it was still exactly the same. Why I didn’t burn to death like Eliana would have, despite not doing anything special. Why I got lucky when she didn’t. Why all of this seems to be making less and less sense.

I am not some “chosen one.” I can’t be. Because that would be stupid, right?

Miri puts the bottle of salve in my hands, pulling me from more confusing thoughts. “You need it more than I,” she says softly.

Martin digs around in his pockets and pulls out a small mirror. “Here.”

I raise an eyebrow at him but accept it. “You guys have mirrors?”

“What is that supposed to mean?” he says in a low, annoyed tone. “All fire mages know how to make mirrors. It’s how many of us earn our keep, you know.”

I roll my eyes and hold up the mirror to inspect myself.

Fuck. I nearly drop the thing; no, I grip it tighter.

I don’t know what I expected Eliana to look like, but when I read The Tales of Alvione, I pictured a generic white girl with brown hair. A fully white girl. But that’s not what I see.

I see me.